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Re: British Genocide Of Indians

This is the most disgusting part-
Hence, the government (apparently not having learned from the example of a very similar situation during the Irish Potato Famine) denied an urgent request from Leopold Amery, the Indian secretary of state, and Archibald Wavell, the Viceroy of India, to stop exports of food from Bengal in order that it might be used for famine relief. food from Bengal in order that it might be used for famine relief Winston Churchill, then prime minister, dismissed these requests in a fashion that Amery regarded as " Hitler-like," by asking why, if the famine was so horrible, Gandhi had not yet died of starvation.Indeed, he refused to allow free relief shipments of food from the United States and Canada into Bengal on the grounds that the food was needed more elsewhere.George Orwell echoed Amery's sentiments when he said, "The way the British government is now behaving in India upsets me more than a military defeat."

Re: British Genocide Of Indians

As a general principle, I think we should stop blaming outside principles for our own failings. Playing victim all the time, we cannot progress.

Yes, Churchill may have not cared about Indian deaths but we cannot blame him when we OURSELVES do not care about our fellow-Indians' deaths.

That said, I think we have moved from the various famines that struck our country. One of the things that were given a huge impetus was the Food Corporation of India whose role it is to ensure that no Indian goes hungry for lack of food. FCI may be a behemoth but to some small degree it has made sure that we do not suffer large scale famine again.

Re: British Genocide Of Indians

Namaste,

Whereas I fully support not blaming the outsiders for our own conduct/deficiencies/shortcomings; this piece of history does not fall in that category.

We were never taught in our history classes at school about this holocaust and the rest of the world does not care either. And that is a shame, because it was preventable and it did happen, and it happened on a large scale. Burying this would be like burying our entire history. We should be able to read about this without getting bitter with the Brits or having any negativity towards them in the present. I for one, am grateful to the poster for bringing this to the table.

There are many ills that we try to find a scapegoat for, and that is wrong. We should not be playing the blame game. But this is a historical fact with no connection to the present. Should the Jalianawala Bagh massacre also be forgotten, perhaps because we brought it on ourselves by holding a peaceful demonstration within the confines of a closed in park? I think not.

Re: British Genocide Of Indians

Namaste,

Not for the purpose of being inflammatory, or encouraging a "victim mentality",
but for the purpose of reminding all readers how pernicious, banal and all too
common the asuric tendency toward racial and cultural arrogance can be,
I quote from the "Straight Dope" website some details concerning a different "British Genocide of Indians", a written exchange between
British officers in the "New World", referring to deliberately introducing smallpox (which the native population had no resistance to):

The exchange took place during Pontiac's Rebellion, which broke out after the war, in 1763. Forces led by Pontiac, a chief of the Ottawa who had been allied with the French, laid siege to the English at Fort Pitt. According to historian Francis Parkman, Amherst first raised the possibility of giving the Indians infected blankets in a letter to Colonel Henry Bouquet, who would lead reinforcements to Fort Pitt. No copy of this letter has come to light, but we do know that Bouquet discussed the matter in a postscript to a letter to Amherst on July 13, 1763:

P.S. I will try to inocculate the Indians by means of Blankets that may fall in their hands, taking care however not to get the disease myself. As it is pity to oppose good men against them, I wish we could make use of the Spaniard's Method, and hunt them with English Dogs. Supported by Rangers, and some Light Horse, who would I think effectively extirpate or remove that Vermine.

On July 16 Amherst replied, also in a postscript:

P.S. You will Do well to try to Innoculate the Indians by means of Blanketts, as well as to try Every other method that can serve to Extirpate this Execrable Race. I should be very glad your Scheme for Hunting them Down by Dogs could take Effect, but England is at too great a Distance to think of that at present.

On July 26 Bouquet wrote back:

I received yesterday your Excellency's letters of 16th with their Inclosures. The signal for Indian Messengers, and all your directions will be observed.

These may not be the Indians referred to by Omkara, but still illustrates what the minds of men are capable of, when trained to operate in the mode of Mahishasur.. when it comes to history, better to admit the dirt and bathe, than spray some